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From the Church Law Society Brief News ZE SPOLEČNOSTI PRO CÍRKEVNÍ PRÁVO 277 280 KRÁTKÉ ZPRÁVY From the Church Law Society Brief News “Karlsbader Juristentage 2005” The Pilgrimage of the Czech Dominican Family to Rome On page 171 of the previous issue of the Church Law Review we reported The Czech Province of the Order of Preachers – Dominicans, celebrating this to our readers about the winners of the 2004 legal journal competition. Our year the 100 th anniversary of the reestablishment of the Province, organized representatives obtained this information on 10 June 2005 at the announcement a pilgrimage to Rome. The pilgrimage took place on 12–17 September 2005 of winners in the Center Poštovní dvůr in Karlovy Vary. The award for the best with 82 representatives of Dominican activities groups from Bohemia, Moravia court decision has not been presented this year. The complete overall rankings and Silesia participating. The pilgrims represented six different Dominican of the legal journals in their competition was not announced at the Karlovy male monasteries in the Czech Republic, as well as the Czech Congregation Vary event and as of the closing day of this issue of the Church Law Review of Dominican Sisters, the Dominican Third Order of Laity, and different so- they had not been published on the internet site of “Karlsbader Juristentage.” cial activities groups that cooperate with the Dominican Order, including the Church Law Society. The Church and State Conference in Brno The Czech Province (Provincia Bohemiae) is one of the oldest provinces of the Dominican Order. It has existed continuously since the division of the ori- The 11 th Church and Law Conference took place on 21 September 2005 at ginal Czech-Polish Province in 1300. In 1855 it was included into the Austrian the Law School of the Masaryk University in Brno. It was organized by the „imperial“ Province. The consequent suppression lasted 50 years. In 1905 the Brno local chapter of the Church Law Society under the leadership of JUDr. Czech Province was reestablished by Master General Blessed Hyacinth Maria Michal Lamparter PhD. Cormier OP of the French Province. The reestablishment of the Czech Province offered a great opportunity to expand Czech spiritual life towards Dominican Congratulations spirituality and opened the way to Dominican operations in Slovakia, which Mgr. Adam Furek from Prague, a member of the operational committee of have contributed to the rich growth in the recently established Slovak Province the Church Law Society and the webmaster of our internet pages at http://spcp. (1998). prf.cuni.cz, on 28 June 2005 successfully completed his exams and was awarded Titular Archbishop Giovanni Coppa, Nuncio Emeritus of the Holy See in the the academic degree JUDr. – Doctor of Laws. Czech Republic, and all attending Dominican priests celebrated a solemn holy Prof. JUDr. Dr. h. c. Karel Malý, DrSc., Rector Emeritus of the Charles Uni- mass for the Czech pilgrims from the Cathedra Petri in St. Peter‘s Basilica. The versity, the director of the Institute of History of Law of the Charles University next day the pilgrims participated in a General Audience of the Holy Father, Law School, for many years the head of the History of Law Department of Benedictus XVI. They visited the Basilica and the General Curia at St. Sabina, the Charles University Law School, and a member of the Church Law Socie- the Papal University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), the Basilica di Santa ty, celebrated an important jubilee on 26 October 2005. In a letter addressed Maria Maggiore, where the Papal confessors from the Dominican Order work, to him we thanked him on behalf of the Church Law Society for everything and the Lateran Basilica, the original seat of the Pope. that he has achieved in legal science and education and assured him that we In the General Curia at St. Sabina, the entire group of pilgrims was received appreciate all his support. by Vicar P. Dominique Renouard OP on behalf of the Master General of the Order. The representatives of the Church Law Society met with a member jrt/zh of the General Curia, Procurator General of the Order P. Robert Ombres OP, former Novice Master of the English Province. (We reported about a visit that KRÁTKÉ ZPRÁVY 281 three representatives of the Society paid to him in Oxford five years ago. See Church Law Review No. 17 – 3/00, pp. 280–281.) The Rome pilgrimage culminated on 14 September 2005, the day of the 100th anniversary of the reestablishment of the Czech Province (Provincia Bohemiae) by Master General Blessed Hyacinth Cormier (1832–1916). The Jewish Studies Institute Established at the Hussite Theological School of the Charles University On Monday 24 October 2005 representatives of the Church Law Society participated in an important event at the great hall of the Hussite Theological School in Prague 4-Krč, Pacovského Street No. 350, when the Jewish Studies Institute of the School was at that time established. The Institute was opened by a speech from the School’s Dean, Professor ThDr. Ján Liguš. The wel- come speech was delivered by a Vice-Dean of the School, Docent ThDr. Jan Blahoslav Lášek. School Vice-Dean Docent PhDr. Bedřich Nosek CSc. in his lecture provided an overview of the history of Czech studies of Judaism and Hebrew. Nosek, the first Director of the newly established Institute, presented the planned activities of the Institute and its goals. His lecture was interpreted into Hebrew by Mgr. David Biernot, ThD. and into German by Professor PhDr. Blahoslav Hruška, DrSc. After a part in the program consisting of Jewish songs accompanied by musical instruments, the event continued with speeches by local and foreign guests. The attendance was significant − the entire great hall was full. We provide detailed information about the Institute in the column ”Presented To You Today.“ The Dispute over the Ownership of the Prague Archdiocese Cathedral Continues On Tuesday 25 October 2005 the Prague 1 District Court decided again a dispute that has been returned to the proceedings of first instance. The Court’s judgment is in favor of the plaintiff, which means that the Cathedral and near- by buildings, which were property of the Church until 1954 based on the land book records from the 19 th century, are the property of the relevant Church legal entities. According to a daily newspaper (Hospodářské noviny of 26 October 2005) the attorney of the Office for Representation of the State appealed against the decision immediately. jrt/zh.
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